Ever been arm wrestling someone or challenging someone in a wrestling match or the like and at some point had to call out, “MERCY!” Basically what you were saying was, “Okay, you deserve to win. I deserve for you to slam my arm down onto the table because you are stronger than me but please have mercy and let me down easy!” 

 

We all want people to give us mercy when we need it from time to time right? And many of us are even decent about giving mercy to others when they need it…but maybe not so great at giving it to ourselves!  This became apparent to me recently in a text volly with my friend, Gina. We were discussing nutrition and stress in regards to health. It occurred to me that the underlying cause for my stress probably 90% of the time comes from me not giving myself mercy or expecting that others won’t give me mercy.  Goodness knows I need it more often than I wish were the case! 

So here’s the deal. I looked up the word mercy. It means this…..When we are running behind or don’t meet a deadline occasionally or something comes up and we aren’t able to deliver as promised and we deserve to be dealt with harshly but instead are not but instead dealt with kindly.

How differently would it look for our stress levels if we had this kind of mercy on ourselves? How differently would our days go if we expected others to give a little mercy here and there and realize if they don’t, that’s on them. Last time I checked we are not perfect and anyone who expects perfection out of us may need to be removed from our inner circles. If you let people, they will suck the life out of you when it comes to this. Try first though to maybe discuss the essence of this blog with them and let them know you need them to back off a little. Or perhaps talk to this person about your own issue with letting yourself off the hook and your own problem with having mercy on yourself about your quirks. However, sometimes it isn’t them at all. It is our own imagination {you know, from our childhood or whatever} that conjures up all these things people are thinking about us.

 

Psalms 37:21 says the righteous show mercy.

Romans 11:31 says if you want mercy you better give mercy.  

 

Try this… it’s made a HUGE difference in my stress level!  Next time you think you may have made a mistake, just cry Mercy! to yourself first and then simply expect others to have mercy too. Give your friends and family a little credit. I’m noticing most people in my life are nowhere near as ready to bop me over the head at my every error like I thought they were. Most of it was from my own issues. 

And like last night leaving the fair with Kevin, I wasn’t 100% sure where my car was and that simple thing {may sound crazy to you} but it would have used to caused a little anxiety of – Oh no if I make us walk miles trying to find the car, he’s going to be angry ( which he wouldn’t have – imagination in my mind ) but I caught myself and took a deep breath and said, “I think I know where the car is. Let’s see” and made a joke of it realizing if he berated me about it ( again which he wouldn’t have – only in my mind – my issues—insert your issues here ) then that would be HIS ISSUE which I am not responsible for.  

Please let us know after you focus on this all week if your anxiety level decreases and you breath a little easier. Go enjoy mercy this week. It’s sort of what Christianity is all about, right?! 

 

Please comment, like and share the blog to help me spread the happy! If it’s a blessing to you, don’t be stingy! Share your silly stories like I did about the fair so we can laugh at ourselves & cheer each other on as we learn how to give ourselves mercy and others.  Help me get this out there to as many as we can. As a happy sisterhood, let’s reach as many as we can to help them be happy ANYWAY too 😉😊😘 

 

Happy Monday!!